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WAS  HI  N  GTO  N.  D.C 
1854. 


OBITUARY  ADDRESSES 


OCCASION  OF  THE  DEATH 


HON.  WILLIAM  E.  KING, 


OF    ALABAMA, 


VICE  PEESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


DELIVERED  IN  THE 


SENATE  AND  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


EIGHTH    OF    DECEMBER,    1853. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  BY  BEVERLEY  TUCKER. 

1854. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
DECEMBER  12,  1853. 


On  motion  by  Mr.  ADAMS,  of  Mississippi,  it  was 
Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Printing  cause 
to  be  published  and  bound  in  pamphlet  form,  in 
such  manner  as  may  seem  to  them  appropriate,  for 
the  use  of  the  Senate,  ten  thousand  copies  of  the 
addresses  made  by  the  members  of  the  Senate,  and 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  together 
with  so  much  of  the  Message  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  as  relates  to  the  death  of  the 
Hon.  WILLIAM  R.  KING,  late  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Attest, 

ASBURY  DlCKINS, 

Secretary. 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  R.  KING. 


Extract  from  the  Annual  Message  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  Congress. 

"Since  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  the  Vice 
President  of  the  United  States  has  passed  from  the 
scenes  of  earth,  without  having  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  station  to  which  he  had  been  called 
by  the  voice  of  his  countrymen.  Having  occupied, 
almost  continuously,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  a 
seat  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress,  and  having  by  his  singular  purity  and 
wisdom  secured  unbounded  confidence  and  uni 
versal  respect,  his  failing  health  was  watched  by 
the  nation  with  painful  solicitude.  His  loss  to  the 
country,  under  all  the  circumstances,  has  been 
justly  regarded  as  irreparable." 


OBITUARY  ADDRESSES, 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
THURSDAY,  DECEMBER  8,  1853. 

Mr.  HUNTER,  of  Virginia,  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate  as 
follows : 

Since  the  adjournment  of  the  last  Congress  an 
event  has  occurred  which  it  becomes  us  to  notice. 
The  American  people  have  lost  a  Vice  President, 
and  the  Senate  a  Presiding  Officer,  by  the  death  of 
WILLIAM  R.  KING,  who  departed  this  life  in  April 
last  at  his  home  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  I  rise, 
as  the  Senators  from  that  State  are  unavoidably 
absent,  to  ask  that  we  may  pause  for  a  day  at  least  in 
our  deliberation  upon  the  affairs  of  life,  to  devote  it 
to  the  memory  of  one  who  was  bound  to  us  by  so 
many  personal  and  official  ties.  Surely,  sir,  there 
are  none  within  the  limits  of  this  wide-spread  Con- 


federacy,  to  whom  the  life  and  services  of  WILLIAM 
R.  KING  are  known,  who  would  not  be  ready  with 
some  offering,  either  of  public  respect  or  personal 
affection,  to  bestow  upon  his  tomb.  There  have 
been  few  public  men,  whose  lives  have  been  as  long 
and  as  active  as  his,  who  have  made  more  friends, 
and  none,  I  am  sure,  ever  left  fewer  enemies.  Nor 
was  his  one  of  those  cold  and  impassive  characters, 
which  shed  their  light  without  heat,  but  its  kindly 
influences  fell  with  genial  and  friendly  warmth 
within  whatever  circle  he  might  move. 

It  is  a  happy  thing  for  a  country  when  the  lives 
of  its  public  men  may  be  thrown  freely  open  to  the 
world,  and  challenge  its  closest  scrutiny,  with  a 
consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  friendly  critic  that 
there  is  no  blot  to  be  concealed,  and  no  glaring 
fault  which  a  love  of  truth  forbids  him  to  deny,  and 
his  own  sense  of  right  scarcely  allows  him  to  palliate. 
Here,  at  least,  is  a  public  man,  in  whose  life  there 
can  be  found  no  instance  of  a  mean  or  equivocating 
action,  none  of  a  departure  from  the  self-imposed 
restraints  of  a  refined  and  lofty  sense  of  honor,  and 
none  in  which  either  the  fear  of  man  or  the  seduc- 


9 

tions  of  ambition  tempted  him  to  a  deed  which 
could  destroy  either  his  own  self-respect  or  the 
respect  of  others  for  him.  He  trod  the  difficult  and 
devious  paths  to  political  preferment  long  and  suc 
cessfully,  and  yet  he  kept  his  robes  unsoiled  by  the 
vile  mire  which  so  often  pollutes  those  ways.  It 
is  said,  that  the  story  of  every  human  life,  if  rightly 
told,  may  convey  a  useful  lesson  to  those  who  sur 
vive.  Of  all  the  public  men  whom  I  have  known, 
there  are  none  whose  lives  teach  more  impressively 
the  great  moral  of  the  strength  which  public  virtue 
gives  than  that  of  Colonel  KING.  His  was  an  in 
stance  in  which  greatness  was  achieved  without  the 
aid  of  those  brilliant  qualities  whose  rare  assem 
blage  the  world  calls  genius,  but  by  what  is  better 
far,  a  sound  judgment,  a  resolute  purpose  to  pursue 
the  right,  and  a  capacity  to  gather  wisdom  from 
experience. 

He  was  no  orator,  and  yet  from  the  force  of 
character  he  could  wield  an  influence  which  mere 
oratory  never  commanded.  He  had  none  of  that 
presumptuous  self-confidence  which  so  often  mis 
leads  ourselves  and  others,  and  which,  though  a 


10 

dangerous,  is  still  a  commanding  quality ;  but  he 
knew  how  to  inspire  a  people  with  a  just  confidence 
in  the  soundness  of  his  judgment  and  the  integrity 
of  his  purpose  so  as  to  be  looked  to  as  a  safe  de 
positary  of  trust  and  power. 

Although  gentle  and  kind  in  his  intercourse  with 
others,  he  could  be  stern  enough  when  the  public 
interests  or  his  personal  honor  required  it.  He  was 
a  man,  sir,  whose  whole  soul  would  have  sickened 
under  a  sense  of  personal  dishonor. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  each  step  in  the 
political  career  of  such  a  man  should  have  been 
crowned  with  public  honors.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  North  Caro 
lina,  his  native  State,  where  he  served  until  he  was 
made  Solicitor.  In  that  capacity  he  acted  for  two 
years ;  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he  was  again 
returned  to  the  Legislature,  in  which  body  he  served 
during  the  years  1808-9.  In  1810,  being  then 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  he  was  sent  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  where  he 
served  from  1811  to  1816,  when  he  resigned  to  go 
abroad  as  Secretary  of  Legation  to  Mr.  Pinckney, 


11 

our  Minister  to  Kussia.  Upon  his  return  he  emi 
grated  to  Alabama,  where  he  was  almost  immedi 
ately  sent  to  their  Constitutional  Convention. 

And  at  the  first  session  of  the  first  Legislature 
which  assembled  afterwards,  he  was  sent  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Ala 
bama,  where  he  may  be  said  to  have  served  continu 
ously,  until  his  election  to  the  Vice  Presidency,  with 
the  exception  of  two  years,  when  he  was  Minister  to 
France.  Finally,  he  was  elected  the  Vice  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
American  people.  As  he  ascended  step  by  step  to 
this  elevation,  his  vision  seemed  to  grow  with  his 
horizon,  and  when  the  occasion  came  he  was  always 
found  equal  to  it.  For,  to  the  aid  of  a  sound  judg 
ment,  he  brought,  as  he  grew  older,  the  wisdom  of 
a  large  experience. 

His  political  career  may  be  said  to  have  been  one 
triumphant  march  through  life,  a  march  in  which 
his  step  neither  faltered  nor  stumbled,  in  ascending 
to  that  place,  which  was  perhaps  the  chief  object  of 
his  aspiration.  And  yet  as  if  to  show  that  even  the 
most  successful  of  men  must  sooner  or  later  feel 


12 

the  emptiness  of  the  earthly  objects  of  our  usual 
pursuit,  that  much-prized  honor  was  to  him  the 
Dead  Sea  fruit  which  turns  to  ashes  on  the  lips. 
It  came,  but  it  came  too  late.  The  breath  of  public 
applause  could  not  revive  the  flame  which  flickered 
in  the  lamp  of  life.  In  vain  did  the  assiduity  of 
relatives  and  friends  surround  him  with  affection 
ate  care ;  in  vain  did  the  aspirations  of  a  whole  peo 
ple  ascend  to  Heaven  for  his  recovery.  The  balmy 
influences  of  neither  sea  nor  sky  could  revive  or  re 
store  him.  When  the  public  messenger  came  to 
clothe  him  with  the  forms  of  office,  his  chief  earthly 
wish  was  to  see  his  home  once  more,  and  in  the 
midst  of  familiar  scenes  to  die  amongst  his  friends. 
His  desire  was  gratified.  Life  and  its  busy  scenes 
on  this  side  the  grave  are  now  closed  on  him  for  ever. 
But  its  tale  yet  remains  to  be  told.  Not  by  me, 
sir,  or  at  this  time.  But  it  will  be  told  in  the  chro 
nicles  of  his  State  hereafter,  when  it  may  become  a 
labor  of  love  to  some  of  her  sons  to  write  the  story 
of  its  founders  and  sages.  It  will  be  told  in  our 
own  political  history  by  whoever  may  portray  the 
stirring  and  eventful  scenes  in  which  he  acted  a 


13 

prominent  and  useful  part.  It  will  be  told,  too, 
and  perhaps  heard,  with  most  interest  in  the  tradi 
tions  of  a  family  of  which  he  was  the  ornament 
and  pride. 

Mr.  President,  those  to  whom  our  people  have 
been  long  accustomed  to  look  in  times  of  difficulty 
and  emergency  for  counsel  and  opinion,  are  falling 
fast  around  us.  It  is  an  anxious  thing  to  feel  their 
loss  at  a  period  like  this,  pregnant  with  change,  and 
teeming,  perhaps,  with  great  and  strange  events. 
The  men  we  cannot  recall;  but  let  us  preserve 
their  memories ;  let  us  study  their  teachings,  and 
it  will  be  well  if,  in  many  respects,  we  shall  follow 
their  examples : 

I  offer  the  following  resolution 

Resolved,  That  from  respect  to  the  late  WILLIAM  R.  KING, 
Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  and  President  of  the  Senate, 
the  chair  of  the  President  of  the  Senate  be  shrouded  with  black ; 
and,  as  a  further  testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  de 
ceased,  the  members  of  the  Senate  will  go  into  mourning  by  wear 
ing  crape  on  their  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

Ordered,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  this 
resolution  to  the  House  of  Representatives. 


14 


MR.  EVERETT,  of  Massachusetts. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  have  been  requested  to  second 
the  motion  which  has  just  been  made  by  the  Senator 
from  Virginia.  I  do  so  with  great  cheerfulness.  It 
was  my  good  fortune  to  enjoy  the  acquaintance  of 
the  late  Vice  President — I  hope,  even  some  portion 
of  his  friendly  regard — for  a  longer  period,  probably, 
than  most  of  those  within  the  sound  of  my  voice — 
a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years.  Such  being  the 
case,  I  feel  as  if  I  ought  not  to  remain  silent  at 
this  last  moment,  when  our  relation  to  him  as  mem 
bers  of  this  Senate  are,  by  the  performance  of  this 
day's  melancholy  duty,  to  be  closed  for  ever. 

There  is  an  ancient  maxim,  sir,  founded  at  once 
in  justice  and  right  feeling,  which  bids  us  "  say 
nothing  but  what  is  good  of  the  dead."  I  can 
obey  this  rule,  in  reference  to  the  late  Vice  Presi 
dent,  without  violating  the  most  scrupulous  dic 
tates  of  sincerity.  I  can  say  nothing  but  what  is 
good  of  him,  for  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  any 
thing  but  good  of  him  for  thirty  years  that  I  have 
known  him  personally  and  by  reputation. 


15 

It  would  hardly  be  expected  of  me,  to  attempt 
to  detail  the  incidents  of  the  private  life  or  the 
public  career  of  the  late  Vice  President.  That 
duty  belongs  to  others,  by  whom  it  has  been,  or 
will  no  doubt  be,  appropriately  performed.  I  re 
gret,  particularly,  on  this  occasion,  the  unavoida 
ble  absence  of  our  colleagues  from  Alabama.  It 
is  the  province  of  those  of  us,  not  connected  with 
him  by  political  associations,  especially  of  those 
inhabiting  remote  parts  of  our  common  country, 
to  express  their  cordial  concurrence  in  the  affec 
tionate  praises,  pronounced  by  his  fellow-citizens 
and  neighbors. 

Few  of  the  public  men  of  the  day  had  been  so 
intimately  associated  with  the  Senate  as  the  late 
Vice  President.  I  think  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  body  for  more  years  than  any  person  now 
belonging  to  it.  Besides  this,  a  relation  of  a  dif 
ferent  kind  had  grown  up  between  him  and  the 
Senate.  The  Federal  Constitution  devolves  upon 
the  people,  through  the  medium  of  the  Electoral 
Colleges,  the  choice  of  the  presiding  officer  of  this 
body.  But  whenever  the  Senate  was  called  to 


16 

supply  the  place  temporarily,  for  a  long  course  of 
years,  and  till  he  ceased  to  belong  to  it,  it  turned 
spontaneously  to  him. 

He  undoubtedly  owed  this  honor  to  distinguished 
qualifications  for  the  chair.  He  possessed,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  that  quickness  of  perception,  that 
promptness  of  decision,  that  familiarity  with  the 
now  somewhat  complicated  rules  of  congressional 
proceedings,  and  that  urbanity  of  manner,  which 
are  required  in  a  presiding  officer.  Not  claiming, 
although  an  acute  and  forcible  debater,  to  rank 
with  his  illustrious  contemporaries,  whom  now, 
alas  !  we  can  mention  only  to  deplore — with  Cal- 
houn,  with  Clay,  and  with  Webster  (I  name  them 
alphabetically,  and  who  will  presume  to  arrange 
them  on  any  other  principle),  whose  unmatched 
eloquence  so  often  shook  the  walls  of  this  Senate 
— the  late  Vice  President  possessed  the  rare  and 
the  highly  important  talent  of  controlling,  with 
impartiality,  the  storm  of  debate,  and  moderating 
between  mighty  spirits,  whose  ardent  conflicts  at 
times  seemed  to  threaten  the  stability  of  the  Re 
public. 


17 

In  fact,  sir,  he  was  highly  endowed  with  what 
Cicero  beautifully  commends  as  the  boni  Senatoris 
prudentia,  the  "  wisdom  of  a  good  Senator ;"  and 
in  his  accurate  study  and  ready  application  of  the 
rules  of  parliamentary  law,  he  rendered  a  service 
to  the  country,  not  perhaps  of  the  most  brilliant 
kind,  but  assuredly  of  no  secondary  importance. 
There  is  nothing  which  more  distinguishes  the 
great  national  race  to  which  we  belong,  than  its 
aptitude  for  government  by  deliberative  assem 
blies;  its  willingness,  while  it  asserts  the  largest 
liberty  of  parliamentary  right,  to  respect  what 
the  Senator  from  Virginia  in  another  connexion 
has  called  the  self-imposed  restrictions  of  parlia 
mentary  order ;  and  I  do  not  think  it  an  exagge 
ration  to  say,  that  there  is  no  trait  in  its  charac 
ter  which  has  proved  more  conducive  to  the  des 
patch  of  the  public  business,  to  the  freedom  of 
debate,  to  the  honor  of  the  country, — I  will  say, 
even  which  has  done  more  to  establish  and  per 
petuate  constitutional  liberty. 

The  long  and  faithful  senatorial  career  of  the 
late  Vice  President  received  at  last  its  appropriate 


18 

reward.  The  people  of  the  United  States,  having 
often  witnessed  the  disposition  of  the  Senate  to 
place  him  at  their  head,  and  the  dignified  and 
acceptable  manner  in  which  he  bore  himself  in 
that  capacity,  conferred  upon  him,  a  twelvemonth 
since,  that  office,  which  is  shown  by  repeated  and 
recent  experience  to  be  above  the  second,  if  not 
actually  the  first,  in  their  gift ;  the  office  which 
placed  him  constitutionally  and  permanently,  during 
its  continuance,  in  the  chair  of  the  Senate. 

A  mysterious  dispensation  of  Providence  has 
nipped  these  crowning  honors  in  the  bud.  A  dis 
ease,  for  which  the  perpetual  summer  and  per 
fumed  breezes  of  the  tropics  afforded  no  balm, 
overtook  him  at  an  age  when  he  might,  in  the 
course  of  nature,  have  reasonably  looked  forward 
to  still  many  years  of  active  service.  Clothed  by 
a  special  and  remarkable  act  of  Congress,  even 
while  under  a  foreign  jurisdiction,  with  the  last 
constitutional  qualification  to  enter  upon  the  high 
office  to  which  he  had  been  elected,  he  returned, 
not  to  exercise  its  functions,  but  to  seek  his  much- 
loved  home,  and  there  to  die. 


19 

Thus,  sir,  he  has  left  us  to  chase  for  a  little  while 
longer  the  shadows  which  he  has  exchanged  for 
unutterable  realities.  He  has  left  us  prematurely 
for  everything  but  his  spotless  name,  and  his  en 
trance  on  the  well-earned  honors  of  his  unambitious 
career.  And  we,  Senators,  for  all  the  interchange 
of  kindness — for  all  the  cordial  intercourse  of  private 
life — for  all  the  acts  of  co-operation  in  the  public 
service — to  which  for  at  least  four  years  the  Senate 
was  looking  forward  in  its  connexion  with  him, 
have  nothing  left  to  offer  to  his  friends  and  his 
memory,  but  the  unavailing  tribute  of  this  last 
mournful  farewell. 

Mr.  President,  I  second  the  resolutions  of  the 
Senator  from  Virginia. 


MR.  CASS,  of  Michigan. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  Again  has  death  invaded  the 
high  place  of  our  land,  and  has  taken  from  us  a 
citizen  distinguished  by  his  talents,  his  worth,  and 
his  services,  and  enjoying  the  confidence  and  affec 
tion  of  his  countrymen.  In  the  Providence  of 


20 

God,  these  visitations  come  to  warn  us,  that  none 
are  exempt  from  the  decree,  that  in  life  we  are  in 
the  midst  of  death,  and  that  be  ye  also  ready  is  a 
solemn  admonition,  announced  to  us  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave,  by  the  mighty  and  the  lowly,  as  they 
successively  fall  before  the  great  destroyer.  The 
lesson  is  the  more  impressive,  the  higher  is  the 
position,  and  the  more  eminent  the  character  of 
him,  whose  departure  we  may  be  called  upon  to 
mourn.  And  when  one  who  occupied  the  second 
station  in  our  country,  is  summoned  from  the  duties 
of  this  life  to  the  responsibility  of  that  which  is 
to  come,  as  the  loss  is  a  national  one,  the  manifes 
tation  of  public  sympathy,  and  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  public  grief,  should  be  national  also.  Our 
lamented  friend,  the  late  Vice  President,  has  been 
taken  from  us.  full  of  years,  indeed,  and  of  honors, 
but  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  and  when  he  was 
just  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  high  career  to  which 
he  had  been  called  by  the  American  people.  Upon 
this  occasion,  I  desire  to  do  little  more  than  to  ex 
press  those  sentiments  of  affectionate  regard,  with 
which  an  acquaintance  of  many  years  had  inspired 


21 

me,  leaving  to  others,  who  have  this  day  well  ful 
filled  the  task,  to  present  those  features  of  his  cha 
racter  and  services  which  endeared  him  to  his 
countrymen  in  life,  and  will  endear  to  them  his 
memory,  now  that  the  scenes  of  life  are  for  ever 
closed  upon  him. 

His  career  was  eminently  useful  and  fortunate  : 
and  in  the  whole  range  of  American  statesmen, 
there  are  few,  indeed,  to  whom  our  youth  can 
better  look,  when  seeking  models  of  imitation  and 
encouragement,  than  to  WILLIAM  R.  KING. 

Firm  but  courteous,  frank  and  fearless,  of  high 
honor  and  irreproachable  morals,  he  brought  a 
vigorous  intellect,  and  varied  and  extensive  in 
formation,  to  the  public  counsels ;  and  the  ripe 
fruit  of  his  experience,  joined  to  these  endowments, 
gave  conviction  to  his  opinion,  and  authority  to 
his  example.  We  always  heard  him  with  atten 
tion,  for  he  elucidated  every  subject  he  investigated, 
and  brought  to  our  discussions  the  stores  of  his 
knowledge  and  experience,  with  a  manner  as  un 
assuming  as  it  was  captivating.  While  loving  the 
State  in  which  he  so  long  resided,  and  which  had 


22 

given  him  so  many  proofs  of  confidence  and  affec 
tion,  he  loved  also  our  common  country,  and  at 
home  and  abroad,  proved  himself  the  true  patriot, 
the  able  and  faithful  citizen.  In  all  the  relations 
of  private  life  he  was  loved  and  honored,  as  well 
from  the  amenity  of  his  manner  as  from  the  kind 
ness  of  his  heart,  and  in  the  social  circle  he  was 
the  very  model  of  the  accomplished  gentleman. 
For.  almost  half  a  century  he  was  in  the  public 
service,  and  was  intimately  connected  with  many 
of  the  great  events  which  marked  that  long  and 
stirring  period,  and  he  proved  himself  equal  to  all 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  sustain 
ing  himself  with  signal  ability  among  men  whose 
renown  is  written  in  imperishable  characters  upon 
the  history  of  our  country. 

But  better  than  all  this,  and  above  all  this,  he 
was  a  sincere  Christian;  adding  another  to  the 
long  list  of  eminent  men  who  have  searched  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus,  and  have  found  it  the  will  and 
word  of  God.  In  his  last  illness,  when  the  world  and 
the  things  of  the  world  were  fast  fading  before  him, 
he  found  hope  and  consolation  in  the  promises  of 


23 

the  Saviour ;  and  calmly  surveying  the  approach 
of  death,  he  looked  beyond  its  power  to  the  glorious 
immortality  promised  to  the  believer.  The  places 
that  knew  him  will  know  him  no  more ;  but  though 
dead,  his  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen,  and  there  it  will  live,  honored  and 
cherished,  long  after  all  those  who  are  now  taking 
part  in  this  tribute  to  his  worth,  shall  have  fol 
lowed  him  in  the  journey,  where,  for  a  brief  space, 
he  has  preceded  us  through  the  dark  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death. 


MR.  DOUGLAS,  of  Illinois. 

I  can  scarcely  hope  to  add  anything  of  value  to 
what  has  been  so  well  said  by  others.  For  the  last 
eight  months  the  mournful  event,  which  is  now 
officially  announced  to  the  Senate,  has  been  known, 
felt,  and  lamented  by  us  all.  In  the  mean  time, 
we  have  passed  through  scenes  well  calculated  to 
engross  our  thoughts  and  divert  our  attention,  if  not 
to  obscure  the  freshness  of  the  first  impression,  or 
assuage  the  keenness  of  that  sorrow  which  filled 


24 

every  heart.  But  no  matter  what  the  lapse  of  time 
nor  its  results,  the  meeting  of  the  Senate,  and  the 
absence  of  one  whom  all  admired  and  loved,  and 
delighted  to  greet  and  honor,  calls  up  associations 
and  reminiscences  which  impart  to  the  occasion  all 
the  effects  of  a  sudden  and  unexpected  bereavement. 
Those  whose  happiness  it  was  to  be  associated  with 
Colonel  KING,  in  public  duty  and  private  inter 
course,  are  alone  capable  of  realizing  the  extent  of 
our  loss.  His  example  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
public  and  private,  may  be  safely  commended  to  our 
children  as  worthy  of  imitation.  Few  men  in  this 
country  have  ever  served  the  public  for  so  long  a 
period  of  time,  and  with  a  more  fervent  patriotism 
or  unblemished  reputation.  For  forty-five  years 
he  devoted  his  energies  and  talents  to  the  perform 
ance  of  arduous  public  duties — always  performing 
his  trust  with  fidelity  and  ability,  and  never  failing 
to  command  the  confidence,  admiration,  and  grati 
tude  of  an  enlightened  constituency.  While  he 
held,  in  succession,  numerous  official  stations,  in  each 
of  which  he  maintained  and  enhanced  his  previous 
reputation,  yet  the  Senate  was  the  place  of  his 


25 

choice,  and  the  theatre  of  his  greatest  usefulness. 
Here  he  sustained  an  enviable  reputation  during  a 
period  of  thirty  years'  senatorial  service,  always 
manifesting  his  respect  for  the  body  by  his  courtesy 
and  propriety  of  deportment.  Here,  where  his 
character  was  best  understood,  and  his  usefulness 
and  virtues  most  highly  appreciated,  his  loss,  as  a 
public  man  and  a  private  friend,  is  most  painfully 
felt  and  deeply  lamented. 


MR.  CLAYTON,  of  Delaware. 

I  shall  only  pay  a  debt  of  honor  to  the  spirit  of 
the  dead  by  offering  my  humble  testimonial  in  ad 
dition  to  what  has  been  so  appropriately  and  elo 
quently  expressed  by  others.  A  quarter  of  a 
century  has  elapsed  since  I  became  acquainted  with 
WILLIAM  R.  KING  as  a  brother  Senator  on  this  floor. 
During  the  greater  part  of  that  long  period  I  was 
an  attentive  observer  of  his  course  as  a  public  man, 
and  I  cannot  in  justice  remain  silent  when  an  op 
portunity  is  offered  of  paying  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  one  who  so  honorably  deserved  it. 


26 

That  man  who,  dying,  can  be  said  to  have  passed 
his  days  without  a  stain  upon  his  reputation,  has 
justly  earned  the  honors  due  to  a  well-spent  life. 
The  Roman  poet  has  immortalized  the  sentiment — 

(t  Nee  male  vixitj  qui  natus  moriensque  fcfellit" 

but  WILLIAM  R.  KING,  who  was  everywhere  known, 
may  be  truly  said  to  have  passed  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave  without  a  blot  upon  his  name. 

The  chief  part  of  his  history  is  written  upon  the 
records  of  this  Senate,  in  which  his  high  character  as 
a  legislator  and  a  statesman  was  firmly  established. 
I  would  avoid  the  commonplaces  employed  on 
occasions  similar  to  the  present,  when  speaking  of 
such  a  man.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  of  him  that 
he  performed  his  duties  well  as  a  member  of  the 
Senate.  He  was  distinguished  by  the  scrupulous 
correctness  of  his  conduct.  He  was  remarkable  for 
his  quiet  and  unobtrusive,  but  active,  practical  use 
fulness  as  a  legislator.  He  was  emphatically  a 
business  member  of  the  Senate,  and,  without  osten 
tation,  originated  and  perfected  more  useful  mea 
sures  than  many  who  filled  the  public  eye  by  greater 


27 

display,  and  daily  commanded  the  applause  of  a 
listening  Senate.  He  never  sought  with  some  of 
his  cotemporaries  to  earn  a  brilliant  reputation  by 
the  exhibition  of  splendid  powers  of  oratory ;  and, 
to  his  honor  be  it  spoken,  he  never  vexed  the  ear 
of  the  Senate  with  ill-timed,  tedious,  or  unnecessary 
debate.  He  preferred  to  be  checked  for  silence 
rather  than  to  be  tasked  for  speech.  Yet,  on  all 
occasions,  when  a  great  issue  was  before  the  country, 
calling  for  the  exercise  of  manly  firmness,  courage, 
and  patriotism,  Mr.  KING  was  abreast  with  those 
who  stood  foremost  for  the  safety  and  glory  of  the 
Republic. 

He  graced  the  chair  of  the  Senate  longer  than 
any  other  man  that  ever  occupied  it — not  continu 
ously,  or  by  virtue  merely  of  repeated  elections,  as 
our  temporary  President,  but  often  also  at  the  re 
quest  of  the  Presiding  Officer.  I  think  he  was  thus 
engaged  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  Presi 
dent  of  the  Senate  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
terms  of  five  Vice  Presidents  ;  and  at  last  he 
reached  the  second  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people — 
an  office  excelled  in  honor  only  by  one  other  in  the 


28 

world.  To  preside  over  such  an  assembly  as  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  to  do  that  as  he 
did  it,  was  enough  to  satisfy  the  highest  aspirations 
of  an  honorable  and  patriotic  ambition.  In  this 
elevated  position  he  was  distinguished  (and  I  may 
add  he  was  never  excelled)  for  the  dignity  of  his 
deportment,  the  impartiality  of  his  decisions,  and 
the  promptness  and  fidelity  with  which  he  main 
tained  the  order  and  enforced  the  rules  of  this  body. 
I  can  remember  no  instance  in  which  he  lost  sight 
of  what  was  due  to  his  own  self-respect  or  the  rights 
of  his  political  opponents,'  by  the  indulgence  of 
party  feelings  in  the  chair.  Presiding,  as  he  did, 
when  party  spirit  raged  in  torrents  of  fire,  all  just 
men  will  admit  that  he  could  have  been  no  common 
man  who  maintained  his  high  character  for  justice 
and  impartiality  at  such  a  period.  A  little  man,  at 
that  time,  would  have  shown  his  littleness  by  yield 
ing  himself  up  as  an  instrument  of  oppression  to 
the  minority.  But  he  sought  an  honest  and  en 
during  fame,  and  he  obtained  it  without  the  em 
ployment  of  any  unworthy  means,  or  the  slightest 
sacrifice  of  principle.  He  engaged  no  hireling  press, 


29 

no  mercenary  libeller  to  traduce  others,  or  to  trumpet 
his  own  fame.  He  paid  respect  to  the  feelings  of 
others,  and  rigidly  exacted  the  observance  of  the 
same  respect  for  himself.  Generous  as  he  was  brave, 
his  conduct  to  his  opponents  suffering  under  defeat 
was  always  liberal  and  kind ;  and,  by  his  inflexible 
truth,  he  won  the  entire  confidence  of  men  of  all 
parties  in  his  own  unblemished  honor. 

Others  have  spoken  of  his  services  in  other  places, 
but  I  shall  speak  of  nothing  to  which  I  was  not  a 
witness.  While  Mr.  KING  remained  in  the  Senate, 
there  was  still  one  member  of  the  body  who  had 
served  with  me  on  this  floor  during  the  memorable 
session  of  1829-30,  and  the  earlier  years  of  Presi 
dent  Jackson's  administration.  It  is  melancholy  to 
reflect  that  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  Senators  of 
that  period  have  closed  their  career  on  earth,  and 
that  not  one  of  those  who  survive  remains  here  with 
me  to-day. 

The  master  spirits  of  the  time  were  among  the 
Senators  of  that  day.  I  speak  not  of  the  living. 
But  here,  then,  were  Clay,  Calhoun,  Forsyth,  Web 
ster,  and  Livingston,  the  learned  and  laborious 


30 

Woodbury,  the  astute  Grundy,  the  witty,  sarcastic, 
and  ever-ready  Holmes,  the  classic  Bobbins,  and 
among  many  others  justly  distinguished,  the  grace 
ful  and  accomplished  orator  of  Carolina,  Robert  Y. 
Hayne, 

"  Whose  words  had  such  a  melting  flow, 
And  spoke  of  truth  so  sweetly  well, 

They  dropped  like  the  serenest  snow, 

And  all  was  brightness  where  they  fell." 

Oh !  I  could  enumerate,  and  delight  to  dwell  on, 
the  virtues  of  them  all,  and  then  revert  to  him 
whose  fame  we  now  commemorate,  as  to  one  not 
inferior  in  integrity  and  honor  to  the  proudest 
among  them.  But  these  reminiscences  are  attended 
by  the  mournful  reflection  that  our  connexions  with 
them  in  this  world  are  ended  for  ever — 

"  Around  us,  each  dissevered  chain 

In  sparkling  ruin  lies, 
And  earthly  hands  can  ne'er  again 

Unite  those  broken  ties." 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 


31 


MR.  HUNTER. 

As  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  ad 
journ. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate  ad 
journed  to  Monday. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

THURSDAY,  DECEMBER  8,  1853. 

A  MESSAGE  was  received  from  the  Senate  by  the  hands  of 
ASBURY  DICKINS,  its  Secretary,  as  follows  : — 

"  IN  SENATE,  DECEMBER  8,  1853. 

"Resolved  unanimously,  That  from  respect  to  the  late  WILLIAM 
R.  KING,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  and  President  of 
the  Senate,  the  chair  of  the  President  be  shrouded  with  black ; 
and  as  a  further  testimony  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  de 
ceased,  the  members  of  the  Senate  will  go  into  mourning  by 
wearing  crape  on  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

"  Ordered,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  this 
resolution  to  the  House  of  Representatives." 

The  message  having  been  read — 

MR.  HARRIS,  of  Alabama,  rose  and  said  : 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  The  tidings  of  the  mournful  event 
which  the  resolution  from  the  Senate  is  intended 


34 

to  commemorate,  have  months  ago  been  heralded 
to  every  hamlet  of  our  wide-spread  Confederacy, 
and  the  generous  hearts  of  even  distant  lands  have 
mingled  their  regrets  with  our  own,  that  a  wise 
and  virtuous  and  distinguished  man  has  been 
stricken  from  the  number  of  earth's  children. 
Tears  have  ceased  to  flow;  and  hearts  the  most 
deeply  penetrated  by  the  afflicting  visitation  of 
Providence  have  learned  to  contemplate  it  with 
that  spirit  of  resignation  which  time  ever  supplies 
as  a  medicine  for  the  sorrows  of  earth. 

But  in  conformity  with  a  solemn  and  impressive 
usage,  the  Senate,  over  whose  deliberations  the 
distinguished  dead  so  long  presided,  with  such 
marked  ability,  pauses  from  its  labors,  to  conse 
crate  a  brief  day  to  the  memory  of  WILLIAM  K. 
KING.  And  while  the  sympathizing  sons  of  sister 
States  gather  around  his  bier,  I  crave  the  indul 
gence  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  while,  in 
behalf  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  I  offer  the  tribute 
of  her  homage  and  respect  to  the  memory  of  her 
most  distinguished  citizen. 

Recent  events,  familiar  to  us  all,  render  unneces- 


35 

sary  anything  more  than  a  cursory  allusion  to  the 
political  services  of  WILLIAM  R.  KING. 

He  was  born  on  the  7th  day  of  April,  1786,  in 
the  State  of  North  Carolina.  Coming  into  being 
almost  cotemporaneously  with  the  adoption  of  our 
Federal  Constitution,  his  eventful  and  protracted 
life  covers  one  of  the  most  remarkable  periods  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  When  the  dawn  of 
mature  manhood  first  began  to  open  upon  him, 
the  great  experiment  of  self-government,  whose 
principles  were  evolved  from  our  revolutionary 
struggle,  had  just  fairly  emerged  from  the  misty 
domain  of  speculation,  and  assumed  the  form  and 
semblance  of  a  philosophic  truth.  Instinct  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  true,  as  he  proved  to  be 
through  life,  to  the  principles  of  the  republican 
school,  he  connected  his  fortunes  with  that  party 
which  claimed,  as  the  exponents  of  its  political 
faith,  Jefferson  and  Madison. 

He  had  no  sooner  attained  his  majority  than  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature  from  his 
native  county.  He  was  re-elected  the  ensuing 
year;  but  the  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  a 


36 

member,  having  conferred  upon  him  the  solicitor- 
ship  of  the  judicial  circuit  in  which  he  resided, 
he  resigned  his  seat  in  that  body.  After  holding 
the  office  of  Solicitor  for  two  years,  he  was  again 
returned  to  the  Legislature  for  the  years  1808—9. 
In  1810,  so  soon  as  he  had  attained  the  age  pre 
scribed  by  the  Constitution,  he  was  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  from  the  Wilmington  district,  in 
which  body  he  continued  to  serve  until  the  year 
1816.  During  this  period  of  American  history, 
there  were  just  ascending  from  the  verge  of  the 
political  horizon,  and  rapidly  tending  towards  the 
zenith,  names  which  were  destined  to  illustrate  the 
greatness  of  our  country,  and  impress  themselves 
imperishably  upon  her  monumental  records.  That 
immortal  triumvirate,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster, 
for  whose  decease  the  sable  habiliments  of  a  Na 
tion's  woe  have  scarce  disappeared,  were  just  then 
beginning  to  exhibit  the  giant  proportions  of  their 
unmatched  intellects,  and  entrancing  their  country 
men  and  the  world  by  the  electric  power  of  their 
resistless  eloquence.  Randolph  and  Lowndes  were 
there  too — and  other  great  names  indelibly  secured 


37 

by  the  diamond  pen  of  history's  muse.  Among 
these  stood  WILLIAM  R.  KING,  a  co-worker  and  a 
compeer.  Differing  somewhat  from  them  all,  in 
many  of  those  great  attributes  of  mind,  which 
dazzle  and  lead  captive  the  admiring  throng ;  yet 
in  all  the  elements,  which  go  to  make  up  the  useful 
legislator — in  prudence,  caution,  firmness,  wisdom, 
and  patriotism,  occupying  with  them  the  same 
proud  pedestal ;  and  lending  his  influence  and  his 
voice  to  the  successful  vindication  of  "free  trade 
and  sailor's  rights." 

In  1816,  Mr.  KING,  having  been  tendered  the 
appointment  of  Secretary  of  Legation  under  Mr. 
Pinckney,  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress,  and  ac 
companied  that  distinguished  statesman,  first  to 
Naples,  and  afterwards  to  St.  Petersburg.  Having 
returned  home,  at  the  expiration  of  two  years,  he 
determined  to  break  from  the  endearments  of  his 
fatherland,  and  cast  his  fortunes  in  the  then  almost 
unpeopled  wilds  of  distant  Alabama.  This  land 
was  now  to  constitute  the  theatre  of  his  after  use 
fulness.  God  gave  him  sufficient  length  of  days  to 
see  "  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose ;"  and 


behold  the  Territory,  which  he  had  adopted  as  his 
home,  emerge  from  its  chrysalis  state,  to  the  full 
blown  condition  of  a  sovereign  party  to  the  Union, 
and  under  the  nurturing  appliances  of  intellect 
and  industry,  attaining  a  degree  of  wealth  and 
prosperity  commensurate  with  his  own  increasing 
fame. 

Soon  after  Mr.  KING'S  arrival  in  the  Territory 
he  was  deputed  a  delegate  to  the  convention  which 
assembled  to  organize  a  State  government.  To 
the  performance  of  the  delicate  and  responsible 
duties  of  this  new  position  he  brought  the  aid  of 
that  matured  experience  he  had  gathered  in  the 
councils  of  the  Union,  arid  was  one  of  the  most 
active  and  efficient  of  those  who  laid  the  founda 
tions  of  our  State  polity.  So  soon  as  the  constitu 
tion  was  put  in  operation  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  Senators  from  that  State  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  From  that  period,  Mr.  Speaker, 
to  the  time  when  the  voice  of  all  the  people  of  the 
Union  called  WILLIAM  R.  KING  to  the  second  office 
in  their  gift — a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years, 
he  continued  to  speak  for  Alabama  upon  the  floor 


39 

of  the  Senate  ;  saving  the  brief  period  of  two  years, 
during  which  time  he  represented  this  Government 
at  the  Court  of  St.  Cloud.  In  verity,  he  was  to 
Alabama  a  true  and  faithful  son,  as  she  was  unto 
him  a  cherishing  mother  !  Truly,  has  he  filled  the 
measure  of  a  patriot's  duty,  for  his  entire  life  was 
devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country. 

As  may  justly  be  inferred,  from  the  long  and 
unchecked  career  of  success  which  distinguished 
the  life  of  Mr.  KING,  and  the  respect  and  confi 
dence  he  always  enjoyed,  his  popularity  was  not 
the  result  of  those  factitious  aids  which  give  to 
demagogues  and  political  tricksters  an  ephemeral 
existence,  but  was  the  natural  consequence  and 
well-deserved  recompense  of  his  exalted  qualities 
of  head  and  heart.  For  forty  years  he  brought  to 
his  country's  use  the  rich  gifts  of  his  patriotism 
and  his  wisdom — the  glowing  energies  of  his  early 
manhood,  and  the  matured  counsels  of  a  wise  and 
honorable  old  age.  Intelligence,  honesty,  and  fide 
lity  distinguished  the  administration  of  every  pub 
lic  trust  confided  to  his  hands.  Amidst  all  the 
fluctuations  of  public  sentiment,  and  all  the  muta- 


40 

tions  of  party,  he  pursued  the  path  of  duty  by  the 
light  of  principle,  and  dying,  leaves  behind  him 
an  example  of  consistency  and  public  virtue  upon 
which  the  patriot  may  ponder  with  pleasure,  and 
from  which  the  mere  aspirant  for  worldly  honor 
may  draw  an  instructive  lesson.  His  life  is  a 
beautiful  illustration  of  the  truth,  that  the  line  of 
duty  is  alike  the  path  of  safety  and  the  way  to 
honor. 

The  personal  character  of  Mr.  KING  was  affluent 
in  all  those  qualities  which  contribute  to  the  for 
mation  of  an  almost  perfect  man.  To  wisdom  and 
patriotism  as  a  statesman ;  to  love  of  right,  and  de 
votion  to  principle,  he  added  a  temper  respectful 
and  courteous  to  others ;  a  courage  unquestioned, 
and  honor  intact.  No  stain  blurred  the  pure  ermine 
of  his  good  name.  Conceding  to  all  men  the  full 
measure  of  what  was  their  due,  he  was  punctilious 
in  the  exaction  of  what  was  due  to  himself.  Exempt 
from  that  acrimony  which  party  collision  too  often 
engenders,  and  always  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of 
others,  he  was  inflexible  and  unswerving  in  the 
maintenance  of  his  own — 


41 

t(  Yir  Justus,  et  tenax  propositi." 

In  all  those  more  intimate  and  tender  relations 
which  bound  him  to  his  friends,  his  kindred,  and 
his  servants,  he  was  all  that  friendship  could  ask, 
or  affection  claim,  or  humanity  and  kindness  en 
join.  While  in  that  higher  and  more  solemn  rela 
tion,  which  he  bore  to  the  Author  of  us  all,  he  was 
exact  and  scrupulous  in  the  discharge  of  all  those 
duties,  enjoined  by  a  regard  for  the  sacred  behests 
of  religion  ;  and  in  the  closing  scenes  of  life's  fleet 
ing,  final  hour,  he  leaned  with  humble  trust  upon 
the  merits  of  his  Saviour. 

"  His  life  was  gentle — and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world — <  This  was  a  man/  " 

In  the  first  month  of  this  year,  the  Vice  Presi 
dent  resigned  his  post  of  Presiding  Officer  of  the 
Senate,  with  the  vain  hope  that  a  winter  residence 
in  Cuba  might  ameliorate  his  health.  But  the 
balmy  breezes  of  the  ocean  gem  could  not  relume 
the  waning  fire  that  flickered  to  its  close.  Death 
was  demanding  its  victim,  and  the  dying  patriot 


42 

felt  that  he  must  needs  obey  the  summons.  He 
hastened  home  from  Cuba  to  spend  his  last  hours 
among  the  friends  who  watched  with  such  intense 
solicitude  his  gradual  decline.  Like  the  imprisoned 
monarch  whose  life  went  out  on  the  storm-rocked 
island  of  the  sea,  he  did  not  wish  to  sleep  upon  a 
foreign  strand,  but  rather  on  the  banks  of  the 
Alabama,  "  in  the  bosom  of  the  people  he  had  loved 
so  well,"  and  served  so  faithfully.  In  the  midst  of 
that  people  he  died — beneath  that  sod  he  takes  his 
final  rest.  But  a  fragrance  shall  still  cling  around 
his  memory,  exhaled  from  the  clustering  virtues 
which  beautified  his  character.  Calmly  he  con 
fronted  the  icy  monster ;  and  with  Christian  dignity, 
resigned  him  to  his  fate.  "Be  silent,"  said  he,  to 
the  anxious  friends  around  him,  "  let  me  die  quietly." 
Silence  prevailed,  and  quietly  his  noble  spirit  passed 
to  the  land  of  shadows. 

"  He  sat,  as  sets  the  morning  star,  which  goes 
Not  down  behind  the  darkened  west,  nor  hides 
Obscured  amidst  the  tempests  of  the  sky ; 
But  melts  away,  into  the  light  of  heaven." 

How  fruitful,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  admonition  to  us, 


43 

who  were  associated  with  Mr.  KING  in  the  direction 
of  this  great  Government,  and  who  now  survive 
him.  are  the  circumstances  which  give  such  melan 
choly  prominence  to  the  closing  hours  of  his  life. 
Upon  the  full  tide  of  an  almost  popular  acclaim, 
he  had  been  just  elevated  to  one  of  the  most  ex 
alted  stations  of  the  earth.  But  along  with  the 
flattering  consciousness  of  popular  confidence  and 
merited  promotion,  came  the  stunning  sense  that 
life's  decaying  energies  were  sinking  to  the  grave. 
While  the  joyous  gratulations  of  an  admiring 
people  were  welling  up  from  the  depths  of  the 
nation's  heart,  and  falling  with  thrilling  accents 
upon  the  ear  of  gratified  ambition,  there  was  ming 
ling  with  them  another  voice  from  the  spirit-land, 
whose  tones  were  heard  above  the  loud  tumult  of 
popular  applause,  and  calling  to  the  failing  states 
man — 

"  Child  of  the  dust,  come  away !" 

The  garlands  had  been  thrust  upon  the  victim, 
only  that  it  might  prove  a  more  fitting  sacrifice 
for  the  altar,  which  already  smoked  for  its  immo- 


44 

lation.  What  a  humiliating  mockery  of  earth's 
aspirations,  which  end  in  nothingness — of  its  evan 
escent  honors,  which  vanish  at  the  touch  !  and 
how  strikingly  suggestive  of  the  solemn  reflection, 

that 

"  The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  from  an  unfeigned  respect  to  the  late  WILLIAM 
R.  KING,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  and  President  of 
the  Senate,  the  Speaker's  chair  be  shrouded  in  black  during  the 
present  session  of  Congress ;  and  as  a  further  testimony  of  respect 
for  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the  members  and  officers  of  this 
House  will  go  into  mourning,  and  wear  black  crape  on  the  left  arm 
for  thirty  days. 

.Resolved,  As  a  further  mark  of  respect,  that  this  House  do  now 
adjourn. 

MR.  CHANDLER,  of  Pennsylvania,  rose,  and  said — 
MR.  SPEAKER  :   The  spectacle  presented  in  this 
House,  at  the  present  moment,  is  replete  with  in 
struction  and  encouragement. 

The  Representatives  of  a  great  nation  pause,  in 
the  midst  of  the  initiation  of  legislative  business,  to 


45 

express  respect  for  a  citizen  who  owed  his  elevation 
less  to  those  striking  qualities  that  are  sure  to  ex 
cite  public  interest  and  insure  popular  favor,  than 
to  those  gentle  virtues  which  are  so  slow  to  secure 
general  appreciation. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  paying 
the  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  departed  function 
ary,  declares  that  it  commemorates  the  virtue  by 
which  he  achieved  elevation,  arid  thus  it  connects 
purity  of  social  life  with  the  honors  of  official  dis 
tinction. 

The  Representatives  from  the  State  of  Alabama 
have  requested  me  to  take  a  part  in  the  discharge 
of  the  melancholy  duties  in  which  this  House  is 
now  engaged.  It  is  an  honor  to  be  called  to  do 
honor  to  the  memory  of  the  good  ;  and  patriotism 
finds  a  grateful  exercise  in  recalling  the  obligations 
under  which  the  nation  rests  to  those  who  have 
done  service  to  her  in  places  of  distinction. 

I  should  have  promptly  declined  the  service,  if  I 
did  not  believe  that  my  colleagues,  the  Representa 
tives  of  Pennsylvania  on  this  floor,  shared  in  the 
sentiments  of  respect  for  the  dead  which  I  entertain, 


46 

but  which  I  shall  so  feebly  express ;  and  while  they 
and  their  constituents,  and  mine,  judge  according 
to  their  various  political  creeds,  of  the  public  mea 
sures  which  are  connected  with  the  name  and  ser 
vice  of  the  deceased,  they  have  looked  through  the 
mist  with  which  party  hostility  and  party  partiality 
alike  invest  their  objects,  and  have  done  honor  to 
the  purity  of  motive  and  the  consistency  of  patriot 
ism,  in  which  those  measures  were  proposed  or  ad 
vocated. 

I  do  not  suppose  that,  in  the  tribute  which  we 
are  now  paying  to  the  memory  of  a  distinguished 
Statesman,  we  are  acquitting  ourselves,  as  the  Re 
presentatives  of  the  people,  of  the  indebtedness  of 
the  country  for  services  through  years  of  unremit- 
ted  devotion.  Sir,  while  the  nation  shall  enjoy  the 
prosperity  with  which  she  is  now  blessed,  she  will 
feel  and  confess  her  obligations  to  those  whose 
talents,  virtues,  and  devotion  procured  the  blessing. 
And  should  adverse  circumstances  overtake  us,  we 
should  then  recall  the  lessons  of  wisdom  and  patriot 
ism  which  the  lives  and  services  of  our  good  men 
impart;  and  while  we  should  lament  the  conse- 


4T 

quences  of  a  neglect  of  their  examples  and  precepts, 
we  should  do  honor  to  virtues  which  we  had  ceased 
to  imitate,  and  venerate  the  patriotism  which  we 
had  forgotten  to  follow. 

The  gentleman  who  has  preceded  me,  has  given 
to  the  house  a  sketch  of  the  public  services  of  the 
late  Vice  President  KING.  It  is  an  instructive  les 
son — one  that  we  should  "  teach  diligently  unto 
our  children."  One  that  at  the  present  time  comes 
with  peculiar  pertinency,  and  seems  to  illustrate 
the  nature  of  our  institutions,  and  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  quiet,  unobtrusive  virtues,  by  showing 
the  ability  of  the  people  to  appreciate,  and  their 
willingness  to  reward  them.  The  history  of  our 
country  shows  that  consummate  statesmanship  may 
be  combined  with  the  possession  and  professional 
exercise  of  military  skill.  The  halls  of  legisla 
tion,  and  the  Bureaus  of  the  Departments  have 
been  the  arenas  of  noble  and  successful  efforts  of 
those  who  came  from  the  activity  of  the  camp  to 
take  part  in  peaceful  forensic  contests,  or  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  ministerial  office.  And  we 
have  seen  the  accomplished  warrior  lay  aside  his 


48 

military  trappings,  and  assume  the  garb  and  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  the  first  office  of  our  nation. 

But  while  these  things  show  the  versatility  of 
genius  and  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  mental 
powers,  they  lead  sometimes  to  the  apprehension 
that  the  people  who  seemed  so  struck  with  the  ser 
vices  of  the  military  man,  would  overlook  the  unob 
trusive  qualities  of  the  civilian,  and  forget  that  pa 
triotism  has  its  services  and  its  sacrifices  in  the  halls 
of  legislation  and  the  walks  of  diplomacy;  and  that 
the  qualifications  for  lofty  place  were  to  be  mani 
fested  in  the  silent,  laborious,  unpretending  privacy 
of  the  closet,  as  well  as  in  the  more  stirring  and 
striking  duties  of  military  life. 

The  official  life  of  Mr.  KING  redeems  the  people 
of  the  United  States  from  imputations  of  a  false 
estimate  by  a  false  standard  of  the  services  of  their 
public  functionaries,  and  it  shows  how  much  confi 
dence  may  be  placed  in  their  judgment  of  the  capa 
bility  of  men  to  discharge  distinguished  trusts. 

The  manners  of  Mr.  KING  were  unobtrusive,  re 
tiring,  gentle.  No  appearance,  no  act  of  his  could 
be  regarded  as  challenging  attention.  He  moved 


49 

among  his  fellow-men  with  manifestations  of  con 
stant  respect  for  their  rights  and  their  positions ; 
and  among  his  fellow-legislators  he  was  distinguished 
by  that  constant  deference  to  others  which  is  the 
characteristic  of  excessive  modesty  and  available 
talents.  Abroad,  sir,  in  Europe,  he  presented  him 
self  with  no  demands,  as  a  man,  upon  the  conside 
ration  of  others,  and  no  claim  to  distinction,  in  the 
free  use  of  his  ample  means.  But  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  a  nation  of  freemen,  he  claimed  the  re 
gard  which  his  representative  character  challenged, 
and  he  maintained  social  hospitalities  with  the  pro 
fusion  which  his  ample  means  warranted,  and  his 
generous  patriotism  suggested. 

Mr.  KING,  sir,  was  a  party  man.  Few  men,  Mr. 
Speaker,  attain  political  distinction  in  a  country 
like  ours  without  party  attachments  and  party 
feelings.  And  none  will  more  readily  pardon  Mr. 
KING  for  his  efforts  for  party  measures  than  those 
who,  differing  from  him  in  politics,  know  by  the 
purity  of  their  own  motives  how  to  do  justice  to 
the  sincerity  of  those  by  which  he  was  influenced ; 
and  this  the  more  readilv  because  the  courteous 


50 

bearing  of  that  distinguished  man  deprived  his  op 
position  of  all  appearance  of  bitterness,  drew  from 
the  defeat  of  his  opponents,  when  their  defeat  en 
sued,  the  sting  of  mortified  self-esteem,  or  imparted 
to  his  own  discomfort  the  ease  of  gentlemanly  sub 
mission. 

Sir,  from  the  quiet  walks  of  life,  that  seemed  at 
first  to  promise  little  eminence,  Mr.  KING  rose  to 
the  second  office  in  this  great  Republic,  attaining 
that  position,  too,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  country's 
greatness,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  amplitude  of  ex 
tent,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  her  profusion  of  means ; 
more  than  that,  sir,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  munifi 
cence  of  men. 

Though  absent,  sir,  absent  to  die,  far  from  the 
immediate  seat  of  his  duties,  yet  the  memory  of 
his  excellence  and  purity  sustained  him  in  the  af 
fection  and  respect  of  his  brethren  of  the  Senate- 
Chamber,  who  seemed  to  feel  it  a  pleasure  as  well 
as  a  duty  to  testify  to  him  their  full  appreciation  of 
his  conciliatory  habits,  his  sagacity  as  a  statesman, 
and  his  justice  as  their  Presiding  Officer. 

The  annunciation  to-day  of  the  death  of  Mr. 


51 

Vice  President  KING  comes  to  us,  sir,  with  no  sur 
prise.  The  nation  has  already  in  some  form  mani 
fested  its  regard  for  a  faithful  public  servant.  The 
announcement  brings  no  monition  of  the  brevity 
of  human  enjoyment  and  the  uncertainty  of  human 
life.  He  had  lived  nearly  to  man's  appointed  time 
and  beyond  man's  common  lot,  and  had  enjoyed 
much  more  than  ordinary  honors.  It  comes  not 
now,  sir,  to  startle  us  into  any  manifestation  of 
special  sorrow.  Months  have  passed,  since  he 
breathed  forth  his  gentle  spirit  to  God  who  gave 
it,  and  the  poignant  grief  which  his  death  caused 
even  in  his  limited  family  circle,  has  given  place  to 
the  silent  sorrow  that  occupies  itself  in  a  mournful, 
placid  recollection  of  the  virtues  of  the  dead. 

We  listen,  sir,  to-day  to  the  formal  annunciation 
of  the  demise  of  Mr.  KING,  that  we  may,  by  public 
demonstration,  show  to  the  world  our  respect  for 
the  high  office  which  he  vacated  by  his  death,  and 
our  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  moral  qualities 
and  statesman-like  abilities  by  which  he  illustrated 
all  offices  in  his  life. 

The  addresses  on,  this  occasion,  and  the  adoption 


52 

of  the  resolutions  which  are  now  on  the  table,  can 
add  nothing  to  the  future  happiness  of  the  dead — 
cannot  augment  the  fame  which  his  social  virtues 
and  his  public  career  have  earned.  But,  sir,  they  tell 
the  world  that  a  Republic  can  be  grateful  to  those 
who  have  done  her  service,  and  that  republicans 
can  appreciate  those  gentle  qualities  which  give 
dignity  and  honor  to  a  statesman's  life,  and  insure 
peace  and  consolation  to  a  Christian's  death. 


MR.  MILTON  S.  LATHAM,  of  California,  said— 

MR.  SPEAKER:  Gratitude  for  the  kindness  of  a 
friend,  as  well  as  reverence  for  the  greatness  of  a 
man  prompt  me  to  unite  my  stranger  voice  with 
yours  in  this  mournful  requiem  for  the  departed. 
And  if  an  apology  be  needed  that  thus  early  I 
claim  your  attention,  let  it  be  enough  to  say  that, 
from  the  lips  now  cold  and  fixed,  and  the  voice 
now  hushed  in  death,  came  first  the  encouraging 
words  of  counsel  and  incentive,  the  gentle  tones 
of  sympathy  and  feeling,  that  have  placed  me, 
to-day,  among  you.  I  could  leave  to  the  gentle- 


53 

men  who  have  preceded  me,  and  to  the  quiet  medi 
tation  of  my  own  heart,  the  retrospect  of  his  irre 
proachable  life,  and  the  rehearsal  of  the  noble 
principles  that  he  so  long  and  firmly  advocated, 
were  it  not  that  over  every  mountain  and  valley, 
every  plain  and  ravine  of  California,  are  scattered 
thick  the  adopted  homes  of  Alabamians,  who, 
while  the  memories  of  their  childhood  are  fresh, 
or  the  graves  of  their  fathers  green,  can  never  fail, 
with  you,  to  remember  the  life  of  the  statesman 
with  exultation,  or  forget  to  mourn  the  death  of 
the  good  man  with  sympathetic  expression.  How 
natural,  then,  'that  I  should  turn  your  attention  to 
a  few  pages  in  the  history  of  a  man,  who  has  filled 
every  place  but  one  to  which  the  ambition  of  an 
American  citizen  may  aspire,  and  has  filled  all  with 
distinguished  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  the 
country. 

WILLIAM  RUFUS  KING  was  a  noble  specimen  of 
an  American  statesman  and  gentleman.  The  in 
timate  friend  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  the  cotem- 
porary  of  Webster,  Clay,  Cass,  and  Benton,  he 
maintained  a  proud  position  in  the  Senate  of  the 


54 

United  States,  by  his  strong,  practical  good  sense, 
his  experience  and  wisdom  as  a  legislator,  the 
acknowledged  rectitude  of  his  intentions,  and  that 
uniform  urbanity  of  manner  which  marked,  not  so 
much  the  man  of  conventional  breeding,  as  the  true 
gentleman  at  heart.  He  was  no  sophist  to  him 
self,  and  hence  it  was  that  he  was  truthful  and 
sincere  to  all  the  world.  His  course  in  the  Senate 
was  considerate  and  dignified.  He  never  yielded 
to  the  impulse  of  the  moment;  but  made  his  tongue 
wait  upon  his  judgment.  He  never  knew  wrhat  it 
was  to  speak,  act,  or  legislate  by  indirection.  He 
was  frank  and  loyal  to  his  colleagues,  as  he  was 
devoted  to  his  own  State,  and  sincerely  attached  to 
the  Union.  Is  it  a  wonder,  then,  that  the  Senate 
listened  to  every  word  which  fell  from  his  lips ;  that 
his  voice  was  potential  whenever  it  pleaded  the  cause 
of  his  country  ? 

It  is  said  that  during  a  primary  meeting  held 
by  one  of  the  factions  into  which  the  first  French 
National  Convention  was  divided,  one  of  the  men 
who  afterwards  played  a  most  conspicuous  part 
in  history,  spoke  but  a  few  words,  and  these  with- 


55 

out  emphasis.  Yet  such  was  the  conviction  he 
produced,  that  his  views  were  instantly  adopted. 
He  possessed  the  genius  of  character ;  he  believed 
what  he  said,  and  produced  conviction  in  others. 
It  is  this  peculiar  "  genius  of  character"  which 
gave  force  and  direction  to  Mr.  KING'S  speeches 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  produced  that 
deference  to  his  avowed  opinions  and  principles 
which  none  of  his  colleagues  shared  in  a  more 
eminent  degree.  In  all  that  belonged  to  him  indi 
vidually,  Mr.  KING  was  the  very  type  of  an  Ameri 
can  gentleman.  Free  from  artifice  arid  disguise, 
his  every  thought  and  instinct  was  chivalric.  Not 
to  adventitious  circumstances,  not  to  the  chances 
of  birth  or  fortune,  not  to  the  society  into  which  he 
was  thrown,  was  he  indebted  either  for  the  distinc 
tion  to  which  he  rose  in  public  life,  or  to  the  grace 
which  adorned  his  private  character.  He  never 
borrowed  thoughts  or  sentiments  from  others.  His 
mind  and  heart  were  of  American  growth,  while 
his  eminent  virtues  served  to  illustrate  our  national 
character.  As  Americans  we  recognise  no  standard 
of  greatness  which  is  not  based  on  moral  excellence, 


56 

such  as  pre-eminently  distinguished  the  early  foun 
ders  of  our  institutions  and  laws;  and  in  this  re 
spect  few  of  the  great  men  whose  names  have  passed 
into  our  history,  can  boast  of  a  nearer  approach  to 
those  great  exemplars,  than  he  whose  irreparable 
loss  we  now  mourn  in  common  with  the  whole  coun 
try.  During  his  long  and  eventful  life,  of  which  a 
very  large  portion  was  spent  in  the  public  service, 
there  is  not  an  act  which  can  be  referred  to  but  to 
his  honor — not  a  suspicion  that  could  mar  the  purity 
and  lustre  of  his  escutcheon.  Mr.  KING  became  a 
member  of  the  Senate  in  1819,  when  the  State  of 
Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  enjoyed 
the  honor  of  representing  her,  with  but  one  inter 
mission,  ever  since.  He  was  a  member  of  that 
body  when  he  was  nominated  for  the  Vice  Presi 
dency,  and  its  presiding  officer.  The  respect  of  his 
colleagues  had  already  assigned  him  the  place  to 
which  he  was  subsequently  called  by  the  almost 
unanimous  voice  of  the  people.  He  was  from  prin 
ciple  and  conviction  a  State's  Eights  man ;  but  he 
did  not  love  the  Union  less  because  he  loved  Ala 
bama  more.  While  he  was  serving  his  own  State 


57 

with  fidelity  and  honor,  he  was  not  remiss  in  his 
duties  to  the  whole  American  Confederacy.  Like 
his  illustrious  prototype,  John  C.  Calhoun,  he 
battled  for  the  rights  of  his  State  in  order  to  secure 
that  harmony  between  Federal  and  State  power, 
which  is  the  essence  of  the  Union,  and  without 
which,  it  is  impossible  to  preserve  our  system  of 
self-government.  In  the  memorable  session  of 
184 9-' 50,  Mr.  KING  voted  for  nearly  all  the  com 
promise  measures  as  an  act  of  devotion  to  the  Na 
tional  Union,  without  surrendering  a  single  cardinal 
point  of  the  political  faith  which  had  guided  him 
through  life,  and  had  secured  to  him  the  affection 
and  attachment  of  the  citizens  of  his  own  State. 
The  most  important  event  in  his  political  history, 
was  when  he  represented  the  United  States  in  the 
Court  of  France  during  a  most  interesting  and  ex 
citing  period.  It  was  well  known  that  the  Govern 
ments  of  England  and  France,  severally  and  jointly, 
opposed  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  American 
Union,  and  that  similar  instructions,  had  been  given 
by  these  Governments  to  their  respective  Ministers 
in  Washington  and  Texas.  These  instructions  were, 


58 

no  doubt,  intended  to  be  used  with  diplomatic  effect; 
neither  party  seeming  at  the  time  willing  to  pro 
ceed  to  extremities.  Mr.  KING,  true  to  American 
character,  and  to  the  generous  instincts  of  his  nature, 
did  not  plunge  into  the  labyrinth  of  European  di 
plomacy.  He  had  nothing  to  disguise,  nothing  to 
withhold,  nothing  to  ask  for  that  was  not  just;  and 
with  the  straightforwardness  and  dignity  which 
ought  always  to  characterize  an  American  Minister 
abroad,  at  once  demanded  of  the  King  himself  a 
frank  avowal  of  his  intentions.  Louis  Philippe 
might  have  been  prepared  to  evade  the  artful  ap 
proaches  of  a  Talleyrand  or  a  Richelieu  ;  but  he 
had  no  means  of  refusing  to  answer  a  plain  ques 
tion,  honestly  proposed  by  a  foreign  Minister,  whose 
official  rank  did  not  add  the  weight  of  a  feather  to 
the  volume  of  his  private  character.  Mr.  KING 
received  the  desired  reply  as  to  the  final  course  the 
French  Government  meant  to  adopt  should  Texas 
be  annexed,  and  became  at  once  satisfied  that  our 
relations  with  France  would  not  be  disturbed  by 
the  event.  The  King's  reply  was  reported  to  Mr. 
Calhoun,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  annexa- 


59 

tion  was  accomplished,  without  even  a  protest  from 
any  European  Power.  Subsequently,  when  the 
diplomatic  correspondence  was  published,  Mr.  Gui- 
zot,  then  the  French  Premier,  attempted  to  raise  a 
question  of  veracity  between  himself  and  Mr.  KING, 
in  regard  to  the  reply  given  by  Louis  Philippe  to 
our  representative  in  Paris.  But  such  was  the 
character  for  honesty  and  truth  he  had  established 
for  himself  during  his  short  residence  in  the  French 
capital,  and  such  the  suspicions  with  which  Mr. 
Guizot's  acts  were  viewed  by  the  French  public, 
that  there  was  not  a  single  French  paper  which 
dared  to  doubt  the  word  of  our  Minister ;  and  the 
aspersion  was  only  translated  from  an  English 
paper,  and  published  in  the  French  Government 
journal.  The  object  was  merely  to  justify  the  po 
licy  of  France  as  against  England  ;  but  our  Minis 
ter's  straightforward  course  put  an  end  to  even  that 
subterfuge.  He  demanded,  as  a  gentleman,  that 
the  King  should  respect  the  assurance  given  him  in 
regard  to  Texas;  and  the  King  did  respect  it, 
and  Mr.  Guizot  furnished  a  copy  of  it  in  writing  to 
Mr.  KING.  Thus  did  not  only  our  Government, 


60 

but  the  person  of  our  Minister,  achieve  a  signal  tri 
umph  over  the  sinuous  course  of  European  politics 
and  statesmen. 

Pending  this  controversy,  it  is  said,  Mr.  Guizot 
attempted  to  assuage  Mr.  KING,  by  assuring  him 
that  "he  had  often  been  told  that  he  (Guizot)  lied." 
To  which  Mr.  KING  modestly  replied,  that  "Ae 
had  never  been  told  so."  French  appreciation  of 
sarcasm  had  no  difficulty  in  discovering  the  true 
meaning  of  Mr.  KING'S  caustic  reply.  I  cannot  but 
allude  to  his  kind  and  noble  disposition  to  bring 
forward,  and  advance  the  fortunes  of  young  men, 
struggling  up  in  life.  I  have  myself  been  the  re 
cipient  of  his  kindness  in  this  respect.  In  all  such 
relations  he  never  assumed  the  position  of  patron 
and  client.  It  was  not  his  position,  but  his  heart 
which  determined  the  place  occupied  by  his  friends, 
and  his  exalted  character  looked  to  no  return  of 
favors.  After  his  election  to  the  Vice  Presidency, 
when  lingering  under  a  painful  and  mortal  disease, 
in  a  foreign  country,  his  thoughts  naturally  re 
verted  to  his  own  beloved  Alabama.  Once  more  he 
wished  to  behold  the  sun  of  his  country — once  more 


61 

he  desired  to  breathe  the  invigorating  air  of  home. 
Friend  and  kindred  had  followed  him  abroad;  but 
he  yearned  for  a  wider  circle  of  hearts  beating  in  uni 
son  with  his  own.  The  American  people  had  taken 
a  deep  interest  in  his  recovery.  They  had  a  pride  in 
seeing  him  occupy  the  position  to  which  their  suf 
frages  had  raised  him.  They  had  an  abiding  confi 
dence  in  his  integrity  as  a  statesman,  and  a  warm 
sympathy  for  his  bodily  sufferings.  With  breathless 
anxiety  did  the  people  receive  the  tidings  of  the  pro 
gress  of  his  illness,  and  each  note  of  sorrow,  which 
travelled  with  the  velocity  of  light,  found  a  painful 
echo  in  the  public  breast.  To  the  people  of  his  coun 
try  did  the  old  statesman  and  patriot  return,  to  draw 
his  last  breath.  Once  more  he  trod  the  soil  of  his 
home ;  once  more  his  eyes  gladdened  with  the  sight 
of  his  native  land,  free,  prosperous,  and  happy;  once 
more  his  heart  beat  with  rapturous  delight  at  the 
future  prospects  and  greatness  of  this  glorious  Union. 
The  strife  and  clamor  of  ruthless  partisans  had  sub 
sided;  the  olive  leaf  of  peace  had  once  more  spread 
her  blessings  over  twenty-five  millions  of  contented 
beings  ;  and  as  his  dying  lips  murmured  a  blessing 


62 

on  them  all,  his  pure  soul  was  wafted  to  that 
unknown  land,  which,  in  the  midst  of  the  busy 
scenes  of  his  life,  his  Christian  heart  always  looked 
to  as  his  last  and  surest  resting-place. 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime; 
And  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time. 

"  Footprints  that  perhaps  another, 

Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main — 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother — 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again. 

"  Let  us,  then,  be  up  and  doing, 

With  a  heart  for  any  fate; 
Still  achieving,  still  pursuing, 
Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait." 


MR.  TAYLOR,  of  Ohio,  said : 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  Death  has  so  often  invaded  this 
house  during  the  six  years  in  which  I  have  been  a 
member  of  Congress,  that  whenever  a  new  Con 
gress  convenes,  I  am  strongly  impressed  with  the 


63 

conviction,  that  some  of  our  body,  during  their  term 
of  service,  must  pay  the  debt  of  nature,  and  end  their 
lives  in  the  public  employment.  The  Senate,  though 
only  numbering  sixty-two  members,  rarely  passes  a 
session  without  being  called  upon  to  pay  the  usual 
funeral  honors  to  some  one  or  more  of  its  members. 
Even  the  executive  mansion  is  not  unfrequently  in 
vaded  by  the  King  of  Terrors ;  and  men  in  public 
station  are  everywhere  constantly  reminded,  that 
for  life,  and  all  their  earthly  blessings,  they  are  de 
pendent  upon  Him  "  in  whose  hands  our  breath  is, 
and  whose  are  all  our  ways." 

The  official  announcement  of  the  death  of  the 
Hon.  WILLIAM  R.  KING,  late  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  well-deserved  eulogies  this 
day  pronounced  upon  his  character,  bring  freshly  to 
our  recollection  the  manly  form  and  gentlemanly 
bearing  of  that  distinguished  man,  and  his  long  and 
eminent  public  service. 

With  the  incidents  of  his  private  life  and  history, 
I  am  not  so  familiar  as  to  speak  advisedly ;  but  his 
personal  friends  upon  this  floor,  have  clearly  pre 
sented  them  for  our  consideration.  I  had  the 


64 

pleasure  to  know  him  for  many  years  as  a  public 
man,  and  to  meet  him  often  in  the  social  circles  of 
this  city.  And  though  we  differed  widely  in  our 
opinions  upon  some  of  the  most  important  political 
questions  that  have  lately  agitated  the  country,  I 
always  found  him  mingling  moderation  with  firm 
ness,  and  a  proper  respect  for  the  opinions  of  those 
who  differed  with  him.  A  just  and  high  sense  of 
honor  seemed  to  me  to  mark  his  public  and  private 
career ;  and  I  cheerfully  express  these  views  of  the 
distinguished  man,  whose  death  we  now  commemo 
rate,  because  I  hold  that  no  differences  of  opinion 
in  politics,  should  ever  make  us  forget  that  we  are 
all  Americans,  that  we  are  all  under  the  protection 
of  the  same  Constitution  and  laws,  and  must  share 
alike  the  benefits  or  evils  that  may  result  from  our 
public  actions.  A  higher  motive  should  always 
check  a  too  great  asperity  of  political  feeling,  and 
inculcate  a  wise  moderation  and  proper  toleration 
towards  those  who  differ  with  us.  For,  after  all, 
the  exertions  of  the  wisest  and  the  best  men  amongst 
us  are  but  transient ;  they  are  vain  and  futile,  unless 
sanctioned  and  approved  by  the  great  Author  of  all 


good.  Mr.  King  appeared  to  me  possessed  in  a  high 
degree^  of  a  wise  moderation,  and  of  a  tolerant 
spirit ;  and  his  long  experience  in  public  life  made 
him  eminently  useful.  He  seemed  to  me  to  com 
bine,  in  a  very  high  degree,  the  strictest  integrity 
and  purest  honor, — and  what  the  great  poet  so  ad 
mirably  portray* 


"  With  all'  good  grace  to  grace  a  gentleman." 

MR.  ASIIE,  of  North  Carolina,  rose  and  said  : 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  having  the  honor  to  represent  the 
county  in  which  WILLIAM  E.  KING  was  born,  and 
the  larger  portion  of  the  district  which  first  returned 
him  as  a  member  of  this  House — having  enjoyed, 
in  a  manner  grateful  to  my  recollection,  his  friend 
ship  and  confidence,  and  being  at  present  the  repre 
sentative  of  a  numerous  and  highly  respectable 
kindred  he  left  with  us,  I  feel  it  a  solemn  duty  that 
I  should  not  allow  the  present  occasion  to  pass 
without  adding  my  humble  but  heartfelt  testimonial 
to  the  truthfulness  of  the  richly-deserved  and  high 
commendations  which  have  been  bestowed  on  him 


66 

by  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me. 
After  the  indulgence  of  obsequial  griefs,  which  are 
a  fit  tribute  to  departed  worth,  the  soul  thirsts  to 
immortalize,  to  assimilate  to  itself  the  noble  and 
virtuous  endowments  of  deceased  friends.  Hence 
we  have,  as  the  remains  of  a  venerable  antiquity, 
the  most  magnificent  Egyptian  pyramids,  splendid 
Grecian  mausoleums,  Koman  sepulchres  of  extensive 
dimensions ;  but  these  were  designed  to  portray  the 
outward  rather  than  the  inward  man.  As  ancillary 
to  the  same  end  various  expedients  and  devices 
were  adopted  to  perpetuate,  to  rescue  from  the  de 
struction  of  time  the  personal  appearance,  after  the 
soul  had  taken  its  flight.  Vain  imaginings !  Empty 
conceits !  The  recorded  reminiscence  of  a  good 
work,  of  a  charitable  deed,  of  a  benevolent  thought, 
are  worth  more  than  a  "  Pelion  upon  Ossa"  of  such 
monuments.  Posterity  is  grateful,  and  if  it  can  be 
benefited  by  any  single  incident  of  a  man's  life,  the 
character  of  the  benefactor  will  be  remembered  and 
appreciated.  And  if  his  deeds  of  goodness  should 
fill  a  volume,  posterity  will  never  weary  in  "  turning 
the  leaf  to  read  it,"  and  to  acknowledge  its  gratitude 


6T 

to  the  author.  And  such  a  prized  volume  have  we 
afforded  us  by  the  life  of  WILLIAM  K.  KING,  a 
contemplation  of  which  fills  our  hearts  with  gra 
titude,  and  inspires  us  to  rejoice,  that  as  one 
among  us  he  lived,  and  to  sorrow  that  "  he  is  no 


more." 


I  believe  it  was  Philip  of  Macedon  who  gratefully 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  that  a  son  had  been  born  to 
him  in  time  to  derive  instruction  from  the  great 
philosopher,  Aristotle.  If  such  was  the  veneration 
of  a  barbarian  warrior  for  a  heathen  philosopher, 
how  much  more  grateful  should  we  feel,  both  as 
statesmen  and  citizens,  that  our  lots  should  have 
been  cast  in  the  same  horoscope  with  that  of  Clay, 
Calhoun,  and  King,  in  the  history  of  each  of  whom 
"  there  is  a  philosophy  teaching  by  example"  well 
fitted  to  steer  our  frail  bark  down  its  wayward 
course,  clear  of  the  dangerous  rocks  and  shoals, 
which  are  prone  to  wreck  it.  These  distinguished 
compatriots,  who,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  com 
manded  the  admiration  of  the  American  world, 
though  widely  differing  one  from  another  in  pecu 
liarities  of  character,  yet  each,  in  his  life,  left  us  a 


68 

legacy  which,  the  more  we  read,  the  more  we  will 
appreciate. 

The  two  former,  "having  gathered  together  their 
earthly  harvest,"  previous  to  the  adjournment  of 
the  last  Congress,  have  received  from  their  admiring 
friends  that  tribute  of  respect  which  we  are  now 
called  upon  to  render  to  the  last.  While  we  do  not 
claim  for  our  distinguished  friend  either  the  thrill 
ing  eloquence  of  Clay,  or  the  philosophical  dis 
crimination  of  Calhoun,  yet,  in  the  various  positions 
which  it  was  his  fortune  to  fill,  we  find  developed 
the  true  elements  of  moral  and  intellectual  great 
ness. 

"  Perhaps  one  of  the  highest  encomiums  ever 
pronounced  on  a  man  in  public  life,"  said  the  late 
John  Quincy  Adams,  "is  that  of  a  historian,  emi 
nent  for  his  profound  acquaintance  with  mankind, 
who,  in  painting  a  great  character  by  a  single  line, 
says:  'he  was  just  equal  to  all  the  duties  of  the 
highest  offices  which  he  attained,  and  never  above 
them.  There  are,  in  some  men,  qualities  which 
dazzle  and  consume  to  little  or  no  valuable  purpose. 
These  seldom  belong  to  the  great  benefactors  of 


69 

mankind.' "  Such  were  not  the  qualities  of  Colonel 
KING  ;  but  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  in  every  po 
sition  he  attained,  he  was  fully  equal  to  their 
responsibilities,  and  discharged  their  varied  duties 
with  fidelity  and  ability. 

Colonel  KING  was  bom  in  Sampson  County,  in 
my  State,  April,  1786.  His  father,  William  King, 
was  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and  character.  During 
the  revolutionary  war,  he  rendered  important  ser 
vices  to  his  country's  cause,  both  by  personal  service 
and  the  generous  use  of  his  fortune.  After  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Convention  which  was  called  to  adopt  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  was  repeatedly  elected  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Assembly  from  his  county.  His 
situation  in  life  enabled  him  to  bestow  on  his  chil 
dren  all  the  advantages  of  education  which  our 
country  at  that  time  afforded. 

Colonel  KING  was  sent  at  an  early  age  to  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  located  at  Chapel 
Hill,  which  institution  he  left  in  his  seventeenth 
year,  bearing  with  him  the  happy  consolation  of 
having  commanded  the  respect  of  his  professors,  the 


70 

love  and  esteem  of  his  associates.  He  studied  law 
with  William  Duffy,  an  eminent  jurist,  residing  in 
the  town  of  Fayetteville,  where  he  formed  friend 
ships  which  he  preserved  with  affection  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  On  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
settled  in  his  native  county,  from  which  he  was 
returned  the  following  year  as  a  member  of  the 
Legislature.  By  this  body  he  was  elected  Solicitor 
for  the  Wilmington  judicial  district,  in  which  situ 
ation  he  continued  for  two  years.  He  was  then 
again  returned  to  the  Legislature  for  the  years 
1808-9.  In  the  year  1810  he  was  elected  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  being  the  Twelfth 
Congress.  This  was  a  most  important  crisis  in  our 
national  affairs.  France,  dominant  in  Europe,  Eng 
land,  mistress  of  the  ocean,  our  neutrality  was 
grossly  disregarded  by  each  of  these  supercilious 
powers.  To  our  menacing  protests,  France  ulti 
mately  yielded  respect.  England  continued  her 
career  of  haughty  insolence.  War  or  national 
degradation  was  inevitable. 

True  republicans  avoided  not  the  issue,  but  met 
it  boldly.     Colonel  KING  acted  with  them  with  his 


71 

whole  soul ;  and,  though  one  of  the  youngest  mem 
bers  of  the  Congress,  he  was  distinguished  for  the  firm 
and  fervid  earnestness  with  which  he  supported  the 
illustrious  Madison  in  his  patriotic  efforts  to  sustain 
the  honor  of  our  country.  He  continued  a  member 
of  Congress  until  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
when  he  accepted  a  diplomatic  position  abroad,  as 
sociated  with  that  scholar  and  statesman,  William 
Pinckney.  On  his  return  from  Europe,  he  changed 
his  residence  from  North  Carolina  to  Alabama,  car 
rying  with  him  the  cordial  respect  and  good  wishes 
of  all — the  enmity  of  no  one.  Alabama  was  then 
a  territory,  but  on  the  eve  of  organizing  a  State 
government,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  done,  she,  al 
though  Colonel  KING  was  then  absent  from  the 
State,  honored  him  with  one  of  her  first  Senatorial 
appointments  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
— a  most  flattering  mark  of  confidence,  which  con 
fidence  he  enjoyed  in  the  amplest  manner  during 
the  remainder  of  his  long  and  eventful  life.  It  is 
unnecessary  for  me  to  read  further  from  the  volume 
of  his  life.  His  subsequent  career  has  already  been 
detailed  by  able  and  experienced  friends.  What  is 


72 

the  lesson  which  posterity  can  learn  from  this  volume? 
It  is  useful !  It  is  significant !  Let  the  honor,  let 
the  happiness  of  our  country,  as  with  him,  be  our 
ruling  aspiration ;  but  in  its  advocation,  let  us  so 
attemper,  as  he  did,  our  conduct,  so  dispense  the 
charities  of  life,  that  we  can  command  for  ourselves 
the  love  of  friends,  the  admiration  of  opponents. 
While  such  is  the  brilliant  picture  of  his  public 
career,  his  private  life,  his  frank  and  confiding 
disposition,  his  uniform  courtesy  and  kindness,  the 
single-hearted  devotedness  of  his  friendship,  his  love 
of  right,  his  hatred  of  wrong,  his  bold  and  chivalric 
temper,  present  a  character  worthy  of  our  study  and 
emulation. 

"  A  combination  and  a  form  indeed, 
Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal, 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man." 


MR.  BENTON,  of  t  Missouri,  said  : 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  The  relation  in  which  I  have  stood 
to  the  eminent  deceased,  whose  loss  we  all  deplore, 
must  plead  my  excuse  for  a  departure  from  the 


73 

ancient  practice  which  limit  the  number  of  tribute- 
offerers,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  the 
mover  and  seconder  of  the  resolutions  which  express 
the  sense  of  the  House  at  the  death  of  a  fellow- 
member. 

Natives  of  the  same  State,  and  nearly  of  the 
same  age,  we  emigrated  when  young  to,  what  was 
then,  the  Far  West;  and  by  the  favor  of  our  adopted 
States,  were  both  returned,  and  nearly  at  the  same 
time,  to  occupy  seats  on  the  floor  of  the  American 
Senate.  Commencing — he  in  1819, 1  in  1820 — we 
remained  for  thirty  years  (with  the  exception  of 
the  brief  interval  in  which  he  represented  his  coun 
try  at  a  foreign  court),  members  of  the  same  body 
— intimately  associated  in  all  the  current  business 
of  that  body,  and  in  all  the  amenities  of  social  and 
private  life. 

But  my  knowledge  of  him  goes  beyond  thirty 
years — goes  back  to  forty — and  not  then  to  the  be 
ginning  of  his  Congressional  service — when  I  first 
saw  him  on  this  floor.  And  I  mention  this  first 
time  of  seeing  him,  and  in  what  place,  to  do  honor 
to  the  public  man  who  could  so  long  retain  the  con- 


74 

fidence  of  his  constituents  ;  and  to  their  honor  for 
the  steadiness  of  their  support;  and  to  the  credit  of 
our  institutions,  to  which  such  stability  between 
constituent  and  representative  promises  a  duration, 
not  to  be  measured  by  the  brief  lives  of  those  Re 
publics  whose  people  were  given  up  to  fickleness 
and  versatility. 

These  circumstances  plead  my  excuse  for  depart 
ing  from  a  custom  which  limited  the  number  of 
those  who  should  have  the  privilege  of  expressing, 
in  the  presence  of  the  national  representation,  their 
own  and  the  general  feeling,  at  the  demise  of  a 
brother  member. 

The  members  who  have  preceded  me  have  stated, 
and  well  stated,  the  illustrious  career  of  the  de 
ceased — tracing  his  course  through  a  long  gradation, 
always  rising,  of  public  honors — from  the  General 
Assembly  of  his  native  State,  to  the  second  office 
of  his  country — the  Vice  Presidency  of  this  great 
Republic. 

To  me  it  only  belongs  to  join  my  voice  to  theirs, 
and  to  the  voices  of  all  who  knew  him,  in  cele 
brating  the  integrity  and  purity  of  his  life — the  de- 


75 

corum  of  his  manners — his  assiduous  and  punctual 
attention  to  every  duty — and  the  ability  and  intelli 
gence  which  he  brought  to  the  discussion  of  the  na 
tional  affairs  during  his  long  service  of  thirty  years. 

Faithful  to  his  adopted  State,  he  exhibited,  when 
duty  to  her  permitted,  the  beautiful  trait  of  filial 
affection  to  the  honored  State  of  his  birth — a  State 
which  has  so  many  claims  upon  her  children  (be 
sides  that  of  having  first  given  them  the  vital  air), 
for  their  constant  and  grateful  remembrance — 
wheresoever  they  may  go. 

As  friend,  as  associate,  as  native  of  the  same  State 
with  the  late  Vice  President  KING,  I  appear  on  this 
occasion,  and  feel  it  to  be,  in  me — his  senior  in  age 
— a  providential  privilege  to  assist  in  doing  honor 
to  his  memory  in  the  presence  of  the  national  repre 
sentation. 

MR.  PHILLIPS,  of  Alabama,  said  : 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  I  cannot  permit  this  occasion  to 
pass  by  without  paying  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased. 

It  is  not,  sir,  to  contribute  to  a  mere  ceremony, 


76 

or  to  conform  to  any  public  expectation,  that'  I  now 
occupy  the  floor.  My  feelings  are  far  too  deep  for 
such  lip-service  demonstration. 

It  was  my  fortune,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  have  enjoyed 
the  full  confidence  and  friendship  of  WILLIAM  R. 
KING,  for  the  whole  period  of  my  residence  in  the 
State  which  I  have  now  the*  honor  to  represent.  I 
early  learned  to  appreciate  his  high  qualities  ;  and 
time,  which  tests  all  things,  served  but  to  confirm 
my  judgment.  I  may  now  safely  say  of  him  dead, 
what,  with  equal  confidence,  I  may  have  said  were 
he  now  living,  that  the  Republic  never  produced  a 
man  of  more  exalted  integrity,  or  of  a  higher  chi 
valry  of  character. 

I  visited  Washington  for  the  first  time  a  few  years 
ago,  and  though  it  has  been  said  (with  what  truth 
I  cannot  assert),  that  corruption  here  stalks  at  noon 
day,  it  was  with  just  pride  as  an  Alabamian,  that  I 
learned  from  all  quarters  .and  all  parties,  that  through 
his  long  service  in  the  public  councils  of  upwards  of 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  had  not  only  preserved 
his  reputation  intact,  but  freed,  even  from  the  breath 
of  suspicion. 


77 

It  was  this  purity  of  character,  joined  to  the  high 
qualities  of  a  remarkably  well-balanced  mind,  that 
enabled  him  to  enjoy,  for  so  long  a  period,  the  con 
fidence  of  the  people  of  his  own  State,  and  of  the 
whole  Confederacy. 

He  has  filled  the  highest  offices,  and  discharged 
the  weightiest  duties,  with  honor  to  himself  and  ad 
vantage  to  his  country;  well,  therefore,  may  we  con 
clude,  in  the  language  of  the  Presidential  message, 
that  the  death  of  such  a  man  is  an  irreparable  loss 
to  the  country. 

A  great  man  has  fallen,  and  it  is  fit  we  mourn 
him  !  Dying,  as  he  lived,  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  past,  and  a  just  appreciation  of  the  future,  may 
I  not  indulge  in  the  hope  that  the  light  of  his  ex 
ample  may  long  continue  to  illuminate  the  path  of 
the  future  representatives  of  the  State  which  holds 
his  remains  and  cherishes  his  memory. 

The  question  was  taken,  and  the  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted. 


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•"'     •         ' 

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